Warning do not read unless seen episode.
Once again, the show finishes strong as it has another season finale that is another of my favorite of all time, by once again doing what all good season finales should do, payoff to what it's been building up toward.
There are some really touching moments in the beginning. Really love the reunion we see between both Mike and El which was just beautiful, just seeing both come to each other and interact again for the first time in a long time was beautiful. Even like Hopper with both Mike and El. Mike of course is angry with Hopper and has a right to be, having El out of his life for so long and worst of all his friend lying to him. Hopper though isn't proud of what he's done, he though he was doing the right thing but he's not so sure anymore. And of course, Mike is letting some steam out and then both hug, which to me was Hopper way of saying "I'm sorry I fraked up."
And as both El and Hopper are heading toward their objective, both have a good talk down. Where Hopper admits to El he fraked up. I do understand his position, how some of the trauma of losing his daughter contributed and his has many good reasons for protecting El, and that anyone can be overprotective when it comes to friends and loved ones. But overprotection is never good for the people your protecting nor is it good for the protectors, because truth of the matter is, we can't protect them nor ourselves from life. Even El admits she fraked up a little to as she hasn't always made things easier for him. Really like it when both held hands in the end of the conversation which showed that things between them are good again and that things from now on are going to be different.
The final conflict was well done, we saw all three Strange Raider groups each doing their jobs to sever the connects or destroy the Hive Mind.
From Raider Group 1: Joyce, Johnathan, and Nancy they are performing an Exorcism on Will at El and Hopper's cabin. There was just heavy intensity which is reflected from the amount of heat their emitting which is palpable as you see Joyce, Johnathan, and Nancy sweating like hogs, made me feel the heat looking at them.
I almost couldn't help but be on the edge of my seat as we see Joyce forced to turn up the heat, from the intensity and emotion on her face you see she is hellbent on drawing the Hive Mind entity out of her son and Johnathan is concerned about killing Will in the process and is trying to stop it, just like Joyce I'm thinking "no don't stop!" which you shouldn't in an exorcism; I honestly understand his concern but it's the only way to fight and save Will's soul. We of course see it works, the heat is too much for the entity and it flies out, we see a touching scene with Joyce and Johnathan getting Will back once again.
Raider Group 2: Mike, Lucas, Dustin, Max and Steve their objective is to go back to the tunnels, get to the center and incinerate it to draw away most of the Demi Dogs away from El and Hopper, buying them time for them to do what they need to. We see an obstacle they must get past before they go out which is Max's psycho stepbrother.
Really liked seeing Lucas as this psycho was threatening and about to physically attack him, Lucas kneecaps him. Then Steve delivers his set of punches on him, and we see the psycho just laughing his ass off, I knew he was probably holding back a bit but maybe also just gets a sick kick from getting hit.
We then unfortunately see the fight turn around not in Steve's favor, but this leads to a great moment when we see Max, she gets the heavy sedative and then sticks her psycho step brother in the neck with it. He starts to go night night, but before that happens she gets a bat and there is a moment that sort of reminds me a little of the scene in "Bloodsport" just like Dux gets Chang to say Mata, she get him to back off and trust me he better back off or the next swing won't miss. I loved that that was just bad ass and felt so good, he had it coming, but most importantly shows she not taking his crap anymore.
It's also really cool and funny when we see her jack his car and she drives surprisingly well though not perfectly as she's going real fast, man she must be really good at the video game "Pole Position". But of course, we see all of them get to work and it's suspenseful as they are traversing the caves, trying to get to the center on time but also staying alert for any hidden dangers. Really like a couple of the close calls which really put me in suspense.
Raider Group 3: Eleven and Hopper their business in the facility was suspenseful as well, straightforward stuff seeing both of them sneak into the facility to get where they need to be. Hopper of course is providing cover for El, seeing his shoot some of the Demi Dogs. But of course, it was El's using her scanner powers that was cool.
Just seeing her levitate and give her scanner power her all, that look of pure fury on her face, even seeing some of that fire color throughout most of the area I was thinking, yeah this is the Phenix force. Well sort of but at least it was portrayed and looked better in this show where in "X-Men: The Last Stand" and "Dark Phenix" it looked like crap, and that two strikes for that franchise that's just sad. Also, I wouldn't mind seeing Mille when she gets older play Jean Grey when they make an revival to the "X-Men" film franchise somewhere along the line, heck her character is a little like that character.
We then get down to the final minutes which are just all-around sweetness and is sort of the payoff we've waited a long time for, the Snowball dance. We see the characters dance with the right people from Lucas with Max, along with Will and some girl so it looks like he's got some magnetism.
Really liked Dustin whom has a hairstyle that makes him look like Huey Lewis at the time, which makes sense as Huey Lewis was big in the 80's. But it's really sad when we see as he makes an effort to ask girls out, each one doesn't want to dance with him but worst of all put on the damn mean girl routine by snubbing him, sad thing about that scene is things like that still happen. It was great when Nancy comes and dances with Dustin, really likes what she says to him and she's right they really don't know who their missing out on; this gives Dustin hope that he can have a girl in his life and she's out there, which I feel this is a partial set up for in next season which would be more than fair as two of his friends Lucas and Mike now have significant others so why not him.
The best part though for me was when El she comes to the dance and she is in a dress with her hair all grown and you saw that look on Mike's face, then both of them dancing and even kiss each other it was just absolutely beautiful, after everything both have been though, from this moment of their lives you knew it was all worth the wait.
However, by the end while the Strange Raiders are celebrating, the Army's of Darkness are plotting.
Rating: 4 stars
Once again, the show finishes strong as it has another season finale that is another of my favorite of all time, by once again doing what all good season finales should do, payoff to what it's been building up toward.
There are some really touching moments in the beginning. Really love the reunion we see between both Mike and El which was just beautiful, just seeing both come to each other and interact again for the first time in a long time was beautiful. Even like Hopper with both Mike and El. Mike of course is angry with Hopper and has a right to be, having El out of his life for so long and worst of all his friend lying to him. Hopper though isn't proud of what he's done, he though he was doing the right thing but he's not so sure anymore. And of course, Mike is letting some steam out and then both hug, which to me was Hopper way of saying "I'm sorry I fraked up."
And as both El and Hopper are heading toward their objective, both have a good talk down. Where Hopper admits to El he fraked up. I do understand his position, how some of the trauma of losing his daughter contributed and his has many good reasons for protecting El, and that anyone can be overprotective when it comes to friends and loved ones. But overprotection is never good for the people your protecting nor is it good for the protectors, because truth of the matter is, we can't protect them nor ourselves from life. Even El admits she fraked up a little to as she hasn't always made things easier for him. Really like it when both held hands in the end of the conversation which showed that things between them are good again and that things from now on are going to be different.
The final conflict was well done, we saw all three Strange Raider groups each doing their jobs to sever the connects or destroy the Hive Mind.
From Raider Group 1: Joyce, Johnathan, and Nancy they are performing an Exorcism on Will at El and Hopper's cabin. There was just heavy intensity which is reflected from the amount of heat their emitting which is palpable as you see Joyce, Johnathan, and Nancy sweating like hogs, made me feel the heat looking at them.
I almost couldn't help but be on the edge of my seat as we see Joyce forced to turn up the heat, from the intensity and emotion on her face you see she is hellbent on drawing the Hive Mind entity out of her son and Johnathan is concerned about killing Will in the process and is trying to stop it, just like Joyce I'm thinking "no don't stop!" which you shouldn't in an exorcism; I honestly understand his concern but it's the only way to fight and save Will's soul. We of course see it works, the heat is too much for the entity and it flies out, we see a touching scene with Joyce and Johnathan getting Will back once again.
Raider Group 2: Mike, Lucas, Dustin, Max and Steve their objective is to go back to the tunnels, get to the center and incinerate it to draw away most of the Demi Dogs away from El and Hopper, buying them time for them to do what they need to. We see an obstacle they must get past before they go out which is Max's psycho stepbrother.
Really liked seeing Lucas as this psycho was threatening and about to physically attack him, Lucas kneecaps him. Then Steve delivers his set of punches on him, and we see the psycho just laughing his ass off, I knew he was probably holding back a bit but maybe also just gets a sick kick from getting hit.
We then unfortunately see the fight turn around not in Steve's favor, but this leads to a great moment when we see Max, she gets the heavy sedative and then sticks her psycho step brother in the neck with it. He starts to go night night, but before that happens she gets a bat and there is a moment that sort of reminds me a little of the scene in "Bloodsport" just like Dux gets Chang to say Mata, she get him to back off and trust me he better back off or the next swing won't miss. I loved that that was just bad ass and felt so good, he had it coming, but most importantly shows she not taking his crap anymore.
It's also really cool and funny when we see her jack his car and she drives surprisingly well though not perfectly as she's going real fast, man she must be really good at the video game "Pole Position". But of course, we see all of them get to work and it's suspenseful as they are traversing the caves, trying to get to the center on time but also staying alert for any hidden dangers. Really like a couple of the close calls which really put me in suspense.
Raider Group 3: Eleven and Hopper their business in the facility was suspenseful as well, straightforward stuff seeing both of them sneak into the facility to get where they need to be. Hopper of course is providing cover for El, seeing his shoot some of the Demi Dogs. But of course, it was El's using her scanner powers that was cool.
Just seeing her levitate and give her scanner power her all, that look of pure fury on her face, even seeing some of that fire color throughout most of the area I was thinking, yeah this is the Phenix force. Well sort of but at least it was portrayed and looked better in this show where in "X-Men: The Last Stand" and "Dark Phenix" it looked like crap, and that two strikes for that franchise that's just sad. Also, I wouldn't mind seeing Mille when she gets older play Jean Grey when they make an revival to the "X-Men" film franchise somewhere along the line, heck her character is a little like that character.
We then get down to the final minutes which are just all-around sweetness and is sort of the payoff we've waited a long time for, the Snowball dance. We see the characters dance with the right people from Lucas with Max, along with Will and some girl so it looks like he's got some magnetism.
Really liked Dustin whom has a hairstyle that makes him look like Huey Lewis at the time, which makes sense as Huey Lewis was big in the 80's. But it's really sad when we see as he makes an effort to ask girls out, each one doesn't want to dance with him but worst of all put on the damn mean girl routine by snubbing him, sad thing about that scene is things like that still happen. It was great when Nancy comes and dances with Dustin, really likes what she says to him and she's right they really don't know who their missing out on; this gives Dustin hope that he can have a girl in his life and she's out there, which I feel this is a partial set up for in next season which would be more than fair as two of his friends Lucas and Mike now have significant others so why not him.
The best part though for me was when El she comes to the dance and she is in a dress with her hair all grown and you saw that look on Mike's face, then both of them dancing and even kiss each other it was just absolutely beautiful, after everything both have been though, from this moment of their lives you knew it was all worth the wait.
However, by the end while the Strange Raiders are celebrating, the Army's of Darkness are plotting.
Rating: 4 stars
